Government’s decision threatens to displace 1300 families!
BIRATNAGAR: JULY 5 – Nabin Rai of Belaka Municipality-3 of Udayapur has been living in Shukrabare for two decades. He has 1 bighas and 6 katthas of land here. He has been raising a family of seven from this land. He is now shocked after the state decided to make the land of the Koshi Tappu area, which he has been occupying for years, a concessional forest. He is deeply saddened by the resurrection of his family. He is now involved in the agitation as the coordinator of the struggle committee for fear of an uprising.
Local Tek Bahadur Bhattarai spent decades in this place. I raised my family here, but now I have to worry about whether I should come and get up. He said that there was a high risk of land grabbing and hundreds of people on the roads. At a time when farming has to be done in mid-July, the locals are engaged in daily agitation.
The locals have started agitation by forming a struggle committee under the leadership of Nabin Rai. A total of 1,300 households in Belaka Municipality 2, 3, 8, and 9 are in agitation to give up farming.
There is a reason
Hundreds of locals are worried that the Koshi Tappu area will be uprooted after the decision to make it a confessional forest area. The Government of Nepal had decided to form a confessional forest on 176.23 hectares of land in Koshi Tappu on May 20. The cabinet meeting had decided to lease the land occupied by the locals for 30 years.
The cabinet meeting decided to allocate 51 out of 176.23 hectares of Saptakoshi river elevated land adjacent to Belaka-3 Paurkhi Community Forest to Baraha Herbal and Agro Pvt. 23 hectares and Safe Way Technology is leased to Lalitpur for 125 hectares. A proposal was sought for 176.23 hectares of land in four wards of Belka municipality on January 19. About 12 different firms had submitted proposals on January 19 last year. Only two of them were awarded the contract.
Baraha Herbal is the company of Nilhari Kafle, a businessman close to UML. Kafle, who became the chairman of Biratnagar Jute Mills when Mahesh Basnet was the industry minister, had sold 68 percent stake in the government to 38 percent. During his tenure, government shares were disputed after they were sold to private individuals and companies. Kafle and the businessmen close to him are in the local agitation as they are worried that they will get shelter after getting the contract for a 176.23-hectare area as a concessional forest. According to a ministry source, his son Pritam Kusiyat is also involved in securing the contract under the patronage of the state’s Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forest, and Environment.
Nabin Rai, the coordinator of the Confessional Forest Abolition Struggle Committee, said that the main demand was to immediately remove the Baraha Herbal Industry of Nilhari Kafle in Belaka 3 along with the Confession Forest.
Wrong decision made without discussion
The local level has not accepted the government’s decision. Mayor Durga Kumar Thapa said that they had to remove the confessional forest in Belaka municipality. He said that he had come to know that the government of Nepal had decided to make a confessional forest but the decision was taken without any discussion with the locals.
The municipality claims that it has already conducted survey and coding work to provide wealth certificates to the people of Belaka municipality. Mayor Thapa has expressed sorrow over the situation that has led to the attack by spreading false propaganda that the municipality is about to remove the settlement. He said that it took a group to harass the locals. “Some people, including the mayor, were found to be physically able,” he said. “During the meeting, there was a sudden attack from outside, which is a serious matter.”
According to the mayor, Baraha Herbal Company had recommended the government to extract herbal peel liquid on 30 bigahas of government land for cultivating herbs in the ancestral forest. Though the recommendations of the Division Forest Office, Regional Forest Directorate, and Forest and Environment Department were taken as the basis, they have not given any decision or recommendation on the creation of confessional forest as no discussion has been held with the local level, said Mayor Thapa.
He said that Rai was also beaten by the protesters after the municipality requested talks led by Ranjit Rai, a member of Ward No. 9. “We are also supporting the demands of the people,” said Mayor Thapa. “We are amazed at how the targeted activities at the local level have been created while we are on the side of the people.”
Mayor Thapa said that Pritam Kusiyat, son of Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment of State 1, Jagdish Kusiyat was also involved in the incident. “The government of Nepal should not have made such a decision without the opinion and recommendation of the local level,” he said. “The local level does not approve of the decision to award a contract to a person to make a confessional forest without discussing what to do or not to do.” The government says there are 1,300 households in the area. The decision has only served to terrorize the people who have been living in Hachuwa for 50 years.
